Naysmith expects to win

16 November 2007 08:49

Sheffield United defender Gary Naysmith is confident that Scotland can beat Italy on Saturday and qualify for next summer's Euro 2008 finals in Austria and Switzerland.
The 29-year-old former Everton and Hearts star believes Scotland have shown recently that they are at their best when playing the top teams, particularly when beating France twice in the current qualifying campaign.
He said: "We've had five home games and five wins.
"We beat France at home and Ukraine at home and in previous regimes as well we've beaten Holland, drawn with Italy, drawn with Germany so we've had good results against the big teams. From that point of view we're quietly confident.
"I didn't play in either of the France games and that's a regret.
"Italy and France are both world-class teams, they have world-class players. You don't get to the final of the World Cup otherwise.
"I couldn't say if Italy are a better team than France. They both have their strengths and they both have their weaknesses and that's what we have to exploit.
"This is a cup final - winner takes all and I prefer that to a play-off home and away. Imagine if we had Italy away, everybody would be saying 'Oh it's Italy away.'
"But we're at home and it's the best thing we could have in front of a home crowd where we have a great record."